On behalf of the show and myself, I'd like to thank the Off the Hook listeners among you.

For one thing, so many of you are coming through with an awesome show of support during the current WBAI fundraiser, allowing us to thunder past our pledge goals like a crazed herd of sweaty community-radio-supporting buffalo. Some of us had to leave the studio partway through last night's broadcast and help out the volunteers taking pledges in the phone bank, it was that busy.:-)

Even if you aren't among those willing or able to pledge, thank you for listening. Were it not for you, we would all just be a bunch of strange people closed up in a soundproof room talking to ourselves, which wouldn't be nearly as fun.

At work I'm stuck using MSIE6 for Windows XP Pro (I know, I know, but I'm not IT and I have no power here, nor do I wish for any.) Slashdot's Firehose feature never worked in it; the +/- buttons simply fail to do anything. I never minded, since I didn't really dig sifting through the Firehose.

Since I do most of my Slashdotting form work, this basically means I have to go from metamodding regularly in the course of killing time at the office, to metamodding during the occasional evening I'm Slashdotting from home.

Among other things on last night's Off the Hook, we had the privilege of speaking with Michelle Kempner, wife of James Powderly. There wasn't all that much new info to report, but it's well worth a listen to anyone interested in the story. You can listen to the segment here or the entire show here.

You are on a generic city street.There are pedestrians here.There is a car here.

> STEAL CAR

You force open the door of the car, pull out the protesting owner,and sit in his place. The victim gesticulates angrily at you fromoutside the car.

You are in a car. There is a rap song playing on the stereo.There are pedestrians here.There is an angry car-theft victim here.

> DRIV CAR

I don't know how to DRIV.

> DRIVE CAR

You put your foot on the gas pedal, and the car moves forward.

You are in a moving car. There is rap music playing on the stereo.

There is traffic here.There are pedestrians here.

> CHANGE STATION

You change the radio station.

You are in a moving car. There is country/western music playing onthe stereo.

There is traffic here.There are pedestrians here.

> KILL PEDESTRIANS

What would you like to kill the pedestrians with?

> KILL PEDESTRIANS WITH CAR

You deliberately drive over some of the pedestrians. Their horrificscreams of panic and anguish drown out the radio. Their brokenbodies fly off in various amusing directions. Other pedestrians fleein terror at the carnage-laden sight, while still others ignore thesituation entirely.

You are in a moving car. There is country/western music playing onthe stereo.

There is traffic here.There are pedestrians here.

> CHANGE STATION

You change the radio station.

You are in a moving car. There is talk radio loaded with subtlesocial commentary playing on the stereo.

The conference will feature an unprecedented 100 talks, squeezed into three tracks over three days. There will also be an unscheduled track, where anyone who shows up and claims a timeslot can speak about anything they wish, and various ongoing activities and presentations in other areas of the con space. I think it's safe to say there will be a far broader and more eclectic spectrum of things to see and do at this hacker con than ever before.

The Last HOPE will take place from July 18-20, 2008, at New York City's Hotel Pennsylvania.

As discussed by HOPE staff on last night's episode of Off The Hook, the badges will serve as the entry point to a series of multilayered games which will run throughout the conference. Players will be able to connect with participants with similar interests, find and exploit vulnerabilities in the tracking system, negotiate with an artificial intelligence for clues via SMS, and more, all while deciding how much of their own privacy to protect and/or violate in pursuit of their goals. The results will be publicly displayed in real time throughout the conference.

The RFID badges and participation in the game will be limited to the first 1500 preregistrants. The Last HOPE will take place July 18-20 in New York City.

I know some Slashdotters will get a kick out of this.. among other classics, "Snow Crash" made the AV Club's list of fictional drugs. (article / printer-friendly version)

From its entry, #16 in their list: "In Neal Stephenson's breakthrough novel Snow Crash, the titular substance is both a drug and a computer virus, as well as an ancient Sumerian curse of sorts -- in fact, it's practically a floor wax and a candy mint too."